


Savin' The Day

by missfae (missreeree)



Series: Blair/Jim Chronicles [2]
Category: Man from Uncle - Fandom, NCIS, The Sentinel, crossover - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Character Death, Children, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mpreg, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 08:02:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5040499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missreeree/pseuds/missfae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair has met some interesting people in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Savin' The Day

**Author's Note:**

> Another in my Sandburg Shaman series. Thank you Tinn for being a great mentor and thank you Kelly for the last minute beta. I dont think I can find two greater ladies.

 

  


**Savin’ The Day** \- [missfae](mailto:missfae@yahoo.com)

Ghouls. I shook my head in exasperation. Why does it always have to be ghouls? If it's not ghouls, it's zombies. You’d think these megalomaniacs would think of different henchmen from time to time. But I guess they go with what they know.

Yep it’s me again, your intrepid Shaman Shamus for hire, once again up to my neck right in the thick of things. And it’s all that DiNozzo’s fault.

Tony DiNozzo was always my best bud since childhood and the sometimes- bane of my existence.

Like me, he was born into money, but unlike me he didn’t have loving parents. His mom was an alcoholic who floated from party to party looking to score points on the social scene, and his dad was a successful Normal - a human with no preter or supernatural tendencies- who was, to put it mildly, ashamed to have a preternatual for a kid. My dad was also a Normal, and although he sometimes became frustrated with having a budding mage for a son, he loved me with all his heart.

Anyway, back to my pal Tony. We met when I was seven and he was ten. Our powers had yet to manifest when both our parents sent us to a mainstream boarding school in upstate Maine near the Canadian border. We were sent there (not to brag) because we had already tested to be at genius level. This was a school for all- both pretenatural and Normals- of our level of intelligence. A little side note here.

A preternatural may or may not know what his or her specific power will be. On the other hand, Shifters usually have Shifters, Nosferatu have Nosferatu. Although our parents sent us to the school for the same reason, they didn’t want us segregated to a special school; we would be associating with preter, super and Normals. But that was where the similarity ended. The mindset for the decision was light years apart. My dad wanted me to be exposed to all each world had to offer and Tony’s dad, he was doing all he could to suppress his son’s natural tendencies. Tony’s dad hoped that after living with both Normals and preternaturals in a closed environment, his son would decide that he didn’t want to be “one of those freaks.” He was such a sad misguided man. Whatever the reason, being sent to the school was the turning point in our lives...

“Sandburg!”

Ragged nails rent the air where my throat had just been. Without hesitation the creature brought up his other hand and pain blazed a trail down my side. I doubled over clutching at the wound. Before I could open my mouth to utter a defensive spell a stream of fire engulfed the creature. As it twisted and screamed I couldn’t find it in my heart to feel any sympathy for it.

Someone behind me swore and shouted my nickname, “Bear.” I turned to face a scowling Tony; smoke was still rising from his fingertips. “Get back in the game.” He turned and leapt on the back of a giant silver dragon that, with a flap of his great wings, rose into the sky. I knew the dragon wouldn’t go far.

Jim, Simon, Ducky and Nathan were instantly by my side. I looked up as the dragon hit an invisible barrier and reared back. Tony deftly clung to his back with one hand while running his other hand down the scaled neck.

“Easy, Gibbs.”

The dragon turned and a gout of flames shot forth from his mouth incinerating a dozen ghouls heading our way.

_Come on, Bear. It’ll be a piece of cake, Bear. The man is a friend of mine and he only wants someone to investigate the disturbance at the graveyard at the edge of the city._ You’d think by now I would have learned.

# # #

"Do you think this is a good idea?” I pushed hair out of my eyes and looked around the darkened woods. I blinked and threw a hand up to cover my eyes as the flashlight beam hit me full in the face. “Tony, stop it.”

The light swung around until it illuminated the grinning face of my best friend, ten-year-old Tony DiNozzo. He was beaming and his eyes had that maniacal look that he had when we were either heading for a great adventure or about to be totally screwed. He didn’t care either way; he enjoyed the adrenaline rush.

“Don’t be such a baby, Bear.”

I puffed out my seven-year-old chest and frowned at him. “I’m not scared. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to walk around these woods at night.”

“There is nothing out here, Bear.”

I sighed. The first time he saw me he tsked, rubbed a hand through my curls and said, “You look just like a baby bear.”

I later found out he would take any of the other kids to the wall if they tried to call me that. For him, it was a name of affection that he wouldn’t let any of the others make a mockery of.

“You know those stories are made up by the bigger kids to get us going,” he said.

I huffed.

“Besides, we all know there’s no troll out here. We just have to hang around for a couple of hours, and then go back to the school.”

I still wasn’t convinced. “I guess so.” We continued deeper into the forest. “Has it been a couple of hours yet?”

Tony held the flashlight so the face on his wristwatch was visible. A branch snapped.

I jumped and looked around. “What was that?”

Tony took a deep breath and peered into the darkness “Nothing.” I noticed the slight shake of the beam from the flashlight. “Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.” He grabbed my hand and started tugging me along. “I think we’d better head back.”

Six of them burst out of the cover of the trees. According to biblical scholars, the number six represents imperfection and looking at the things that came charging towards us....

They were big, around 6’5’ and looked to me to be as broad as a barn. Long hair fell to their shoulders and beards to the middle of their chests. But what caused me to freeze more than their red eyes, bulbous noses or mouths full of oversized teeth was the big wooden clubs they used to smash the trees out of their way.

“Saint Sebastian,” I cried out grasping the sleeve of Tony’s shirt. They didn’t resemble any of the cute little Wishniks I had seen. These brutes were enormous and ready to pulverize anything or anybody in their path.

He pushed me behind him and shouted, “Stay back.” The flashlight’s spot swung wildly to bring into clarity each nightmarish visage.

The trolls gave a bellowing laugh and charged straight at us. The next thing that happened will be forever etched in my memory. I threw my hands up over my head with my wrist crossed and yelled, “Freeze!”

One of them froze.

Still as a statue; his club raised above his head frozen.

Too bad that little trick didn’t dissuade the others. One of them flung the club in Tony’s direction. Before I could shout a warning, fire blazed from his fingertips and consumed the projectile.

The roar that filled the air set my teeth on edge and caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise. I stumbled back as the trolls rushed us - they jerked to a halt.

Hands... hands were wrapped around their legs. Hands that rose higher as beings pulled themselves out of the ground.

“Corpses,” Tony screamed; I bent over and became violently ill. Raising my head, I concentrated on trying to draw on the power that worked through me earlier.

I lifted my hand but before I could speak another voice cried out,

“Stop.” Two men sprinted from between the trees.

“Hold them,” the shorter blond man commanded and the now fully unearthed corpses wrapped themselves around the trolls as others reached up from the ground. He spat something in what sounded like a foreign language then turned his gaze on his companion. The taller of the two, a dark-haired man, pulled a sword from a scabbard on his side. “You two, get back to the school on the double.”

We couldn’t have moved swifter if we had literal wings.

# # #

I was on the ground. Pain, as relentless as lightening, shot from my hip up the side of my ribcage.

“Chief.” Jim was at my side reaching for me. He was the love of my life and the birth parent of our three sons.

He was a shifter and for just giving birth three months ago, he was a knock out. Our friend Simon and his mate, another shifter by the name of Rafe, had three daughters, born six months earlier. Their daughters and our sons seemed to have a link between them. That possibility would need more examination if I came out of this situation alive. Ducky stilled Jim with a touch on the shoulder.

“Let Nathan take care of him. We’ve got to keep these things back.”

Jim gave me a look. He was torn between his duty and being with me.

“Go,” Nathan said taking my arm, “I’ve got him.”

Jim gave me a last once-over and leapt into the air; a black panther hit the ground running and bowled into the creatures.

“We can’t hold them off forever.” I gritted my teeth as Nathan ripped away the cloth covering the wound. He drew in a breath; I looked into his eyes and could only guess at the damage he was surveying.

“Something is controlling them.” He reached for the area; I flinched. “Hold still and let me take the pain...”

# # #

We crashed through the doors of our dormitory, all thoughts of punishment for being out after curfew forgotten. As I was on my knees fighting to get my breath, Tony yelled out to the senior student on duty,

“Trolls- trolls are in the woods.”

He scowled. “That’s not funny and it’s not going to get you out of house demerits-”

“It’s true,” I was finally able to gasp out.

Tony's head bobbed up and down. “We were attacked and two men...” His eyes widened. “One of them made corpses come out of the ground-”

“That’ll be quite enough!” The teen reached for Tony, but jerked around when the front door slammed against the wall. Standing there was another troll bigger and broader than the ones we faced in the woods.

The teen let out a whimper and took a stumbling step back. Disregarding the teen, the troll turned blood-red eyes in my direction, radiating a malevolence so palpable the air seemed to become too thick to draw into my lungs. I began to choke.

“Youuuu...” That word, a deep rumbling bass, squeezed itself out of his chest and through his lips. “You brought them.”

He raised a battle-axe that had to be taller than me. I heard a splashing sound and a split second later, an acrid stench permeated the room. I dared a glance out the corner of my eye; the senior had pissed himself.

“What’s going on here?” The dorm counselor stomped down the stars. She froze her brown eyes wide. “Troll!” In the blink of an eye, she changed.

The tips of her ears developed slight points and brown eyes became silver. The short cap of kinky curls transformed into waist-length dreads and her housecoat was now a tight silver one-piece. Gossamer wings, emerging from between her shoulder blades, completed the transformation.

Fae.

With her left hand she reached across her body and pulled out a flaming sword.

“You defile my house with your presence. Get out!”

Instead of backing away, the troll bellowed with laughter. Drool hung from its extended lower lip a string so long, it nearly touched the ground. "Good, an appetizer before the main event."

He charged; the Fae raised her sword and an arrow struck the creature in the left shoulder. “Wha-”

Tony grabbed my shoulder with one hand and pointed with the other. “The guys from the woods.” I couldn’t stop trembling as I peered in the direction of his outstretched hand. Charging through the shattered doorway was the blond who still held the crossbow. The troll tumbled to the tiled floor of the lobby and was swarmed by undead things. He rolled about the floor; his screams of rage caused a commotion that brought others running.

Cries of "troll" rang throughout the building. The air coalesced as preternaturals and supernaturals began to shift. Somehow, the troll shook off two of the corpses and shot to his feet. He lunged at me fingers reaching for my throat. With a shout, I fell back and raised my hands.

"Bear!" A full-body tackle forced the breath from my lungs as I went to the floor. Heat seared the right side of my face as fire engulfed Tony's arm.

"Do not burn them!" The blond's voice was heavily accented. His shirt was ripped and blood flowed from a cut under his bangs. The darker man limped in after his companion. His face was ashen and his shirt was in tatters. He moved as quickly as his injuries would allow and placed the tip of his sword against the neck of the troll.

"Yield," he commanded, "yield or I'll end your miserable existence right now.”

The creature flailed wildly; the grips of the undead were steel bands around him.

The tip of the sword drew blood. "Yield!"

Spittle flew as the creature thundered, “I yield- for now."

"Not good enough." The sword flashed; the troll's head rolled; I swallowed back the remainder of this evening’s dinner that threatened to make a reappearance.

The man's knees gave way but his friend was there to catch him.

"Slishkom plohiye celiteli ne mogut izlechit' seb'a." (Too bad healers can’t heal themselves.)

"A healer," I murmured. The two men eyed me.

"You speak Russian," said the blond man.

I nodded. The two men exchanged a glance.

Our dorm counselor, Tanya, still brandishing her sword, stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

"Forever vigilant." The brunet nodded in approval.

"What?" Tanya demanded.

The blond answered, "He means to say that although we saved you from the creature, you have yet to relax your guard." He stood, helping the other to his feet.

"You still haven't answered my question."

The blond waved a hand and the zombies lifted the remains of the troll and shambled out the door and into the night.

"Hey-" Tanya began but he cut her off.

"All you need to know,” he looked into my eyes. It seemed as if he was peering into my soul. “- is your uncle is looking out for you."

The blond supported his dark-haired companion and they followed the creatures into the night.

# # #

I gritted my teeth as thousands of razors sliced the flesh from my bones. At least, that was what it felt like.

_Why do healings feel worse than the injury?_

"Don't be such a baby."

"Damned empath." He grinned. I saw a ghoul sink his teeth into Simon's arm. The half-dead police captain ripped it away taking out a chunk of his arm in the process. He growled as he tore the thing’s head from its shoulders.

Okay, tire screech and “Lucy you got some ‘splanin’ to do.”

Half-dead…hmm… how does one fully explain the nuances of the different states of deadness? Wellll… I’ll give it a shot. To begin, all the states, except for natural death, involve some sort of magic or other occurrences to help it come to fruition. Full unnatural death is the equivalent of being a zombie. These corpses can be reanimated by disease or by scientific means. All those George Romero movies got it basically right. I say basically because zombies don’t eat people. I know; I asked them or rather I had Ducky ask them. Zombies have no desire to eat; neither do they possess a working digestive system. In addition to this, they have no higher or lower brain function. So when they rise, these unfortunate souls lack the motivation to perform any tasks, no matter how menial, thus no attacking or eating humans. They are perfectly content to stand around and rot. No, in order for a zombie to have any sense of purpose, they have to be controlled by an outside power. This is where your necromancers, such as Ducky, come in. In fact, it should be of no surprise that most coroners are necromancers. These individuals not only communicate with the dead, but can actually raise and control them. Some mages and wizards have this power, but it takes a great deal of magic because this gift is not innate within them.

The necromancer’s will drives the undead and he can command them to carry out tasks, but always within the scope of the corpse’s limitation. An undead individual retains no more strength than the person had in life. Therefore, they can’t pick up cars or smash down brick walls. Additionally, depending on the condition of the body, they may not be ambulatory. Enough of that for now; let’s move on to the three-quarters dead.

This was described by Wesley, later known as the “Dread Pirate Roberts” in his autobiography _The Princess Bride_. When he was tortured by the evil Prince Humperdink, he was proclaimed by the Miracle Max to be “mostly dead.” These individuals are just that, mostly dead. They are one step away from stepping into the light. I mean all bodily functions are starting to shut down. Luckily for him, Max had the cure. It was one of many so I won’t go into it now. Wesley was lucky not to have suffered any brain damage. Moving right along, we get to Simon – half- dead.

These are people who were halfway through their journey towards death but where brought back to life, hence the term half- dead. What determines who is considered half-way dead or to be in any state of deadness? There are a number of criteria and they are all based on bodily functions, life force remaining and mystical revelation. Simon was shot when he appeared at the home of a potential witness. He was there to conduct an interview and he interrupted the suspect attempting to silence the witness. When he was shot, his partner and mate, Rafe shifted into his wolf form and killed the suspect. Simon was taken to the hospital where he lay unconscious; his life slipping away. David Wolfe, our coroner was present. He assessed the situation and gave Rafe the choice of letting Simon pass away or to bring him back. Rave chose to bring him back.

An important fact to remember about half-deads is that they are half alive; therefore, half of their sperm is still viable. Hence, the children he and his shifter mate Rafe were able to produce. Another important fact is- half-deads, as are three-quarter and full dead, are immune to diseases and bites from other creatures. This is the reason the bite of the ghoul didn’t affect Simon.

Finally, one-quarter dead. They are almost alive since they have only lost a bit of their life energy. One-quarter deads will appear a bit older than when they were fully alive, and they have some immunity against disease the fully alive don’t have, but those are the only real major differences.

End of Lecture, we now take you back to our regularly scheduled program already in progress.

"Is my 'uncle' still looking out for me?"

Before he could respond, we heard, "Look out!"

A black shape dove into us sending us flying through the grass. I came up spitting out a mouthful of sod. Jim morphed back into his human form. My mind and other parts immediately came to attention- so sue me, I'm human.

"Wha-” A geyser of earth erupted at the spot we just vacated. Ghouls poured out over the opening.

“I could smell ‘em,” Jim said as he turned back to face them.

I grabbed his arm and the three of us began backing away from the group. “We’ve got to get out of here.” I threw up a defensive shield as a stream of fire barbequed the creatures.

“Warded barrier,” Jim reminded me and snarled at the creatures closest to our position.

“All barriers have a weakness. And I could slap myself for not thinking of it before.”

Gibbs landed near us and morphed back to his human form. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll do it for you when we get out of here.” Tony reached into his hip sack and tossed him a gun and a pair of shorts. Jim shot him a glance as I opened my Vision to enable me to see the barrier.

Quick explanation.

In Vision the wizard is able to see beyond what appears to be there. In other words, we can peel back the layers of normality and get to the inner essence of the person. Practitioners of this art can the access memories of another being without becoming overwhelmed by them. Vision also enables the user to peer into the world of the super or preternatural.

Explanation complete.

An arrow whizzed by my head and the thunk of it meeting flesh caused me to flinch as I moved my gaze over the now shimmering barrier.

“There,” I shouted, pointing north. “Go, go, go, go, go!” While Simon, Tony, and Gibbs covered our rear, we all sprinted towards the opening. As we ran for our lives, the portal began to glow and shrink.

“Oh shit! No, no, no, no no! Move your butts.” Jim grabbed me and tore towards the opening. I rarely use Latin in my spells, but I started intoning a chant, to hold the portal open. I slowed the rate but not the inevitability of what was happening. Over my chanting, I heard the pounding feet of the others moving towards me.

When we arrived, Jim pushed me towards the opening. “Get through.”

I shook my head flinging the sweat that was starting to drip. I spoke through teeth gritted with concentration.

“I need to be on this side of the gate to keep it open.”

“Sandburg!”

I frowned. “Get the others out. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Gentlemen, time to move your asses.” Nathan spoke and pushed DiNozzo through the gate; I saw the indecision on Gibbs’ face as Nathan reached for him, but it was for a split second and he followed Tony through. “Simon.” He was the next one to exit. The portal, not wide to begin with, had shrunk to three-fourths its size.

“Ducky, out.” I waved my right hand and blasted a horde of advancing ghouls back 50 feet. He and Nathan exited, barely squeezing through the portal, and the zombies fighting under his command instantly fell. The remaining ghouls charged.

“Time to go.” Jim grabbed me around my waist and fell backwards dragging us both through; it closed as the first knuckles of my index, middle and ring fingers of my left hand, the hand maintaining the spell, was still inside.

“Saint Sebas-” I remembered screaming before everything went black.

# # #

I woke to the smell of antiseptic and other scents that let me know I was in a hospital.

“Cascade General,” I murmured.

“Ah good, my dear boy, you’re awake.”

“Ducky. Wh-where’s Jim?”

“Right here, Chief.” I felt him move closer and a light weight laid on my chest. I reached up with my good hand and felt the soft fuzz of hair. I breathed in the scent.

“Josh.” I smiled and caressed the face of my son before drifting back to sleep. When I woke again, I felt a heavier weight on my chest. Slitting open my eyes, I saw the top of Jim’s brown hair. “H-” His head shot up.

“Chief.” I heard rustling and rolled my head to the side. Tony and Gibbs were sitting in those awful plastic chairs they place in the patient’s room to discourage visitors. Simon, Ducky, and Nathan’s heads were together in deep discussion.

“Sleeping Beauty awakens,” Nathan intoned as he and Ducky moved towards the bed. Working around Jim, they checked my vitals.

“The ch-” I licked my dry lips and tried again. “Children?”

Jim held up a glass of water and placed the straw in my mouth before he spoke. “They’re with Serena.” I gave a slight nod. She was my friend, eyes on the street, ex-lover and Girl Friday all rolled into one.

“My hand?” I groaned as I attempted to raise the appendage.

Ducky answered, “Nathan did the best he could and modern medicine did the rest.”

“Me-meaning?”

“Reconstructive surgery is a wonderful thing, dear lad.”

Jim squeezed my good hand. “We headed back for the cemetery at first light when the spell would be cancelled...” He trailed off.

Tony finished his sentence. “Bear, we couldn’t find the fingertips.”

I sighed. “Then whoever did this has a piece of me.”

“I promise we’ll find him.” Tony moved to the side of the bed and gently laid his hand over my injured one. “I owe you that.”

“Don’t,” I said, “it’s what we do. There is always risk.”

We contemplated this in silence until a cheery, “Is this a private party or can anyone join?” rang out. I looked up to see Serena. She’s a waitress who works at my coffee shop, _The All-Nighter_ , so named because it’s open all night. On the side, Serena keeps me informed about what’s going on in the streets. I have to confess that Serena is an ex-lover; that aspect of our relationship ended when Jim and I became bonded, but she has remained to this day an excellent friend to both Jim and me. She entered the room with pushing my sons Joshua, Caleb, and Seth in a stroller. Behind her was her nine-year-old daughter Belinda and Rafe pushing a stroller containing his daughters Lily, Mallory, and Jeannie.

Good thing they gave me a large private room. “Come on in.” I smiled as Belinda gave me a kiss on the cheek and Jim reached into the stroller to tickle one of the babies. As his coo filled the air, I glanced at the people around me. I knew that this was far from over because whomever had lured us to that trap would have to be dealt with, not to mention the power he could exert over me by having something from my person.

For now, I was wrapped up in the love of family and friends. As I took in the smiling faces, I knew it would have to be enough for now.

The End.

Notes: Another in my Sandburg Shaman series. Thank you Tinn for being a great mentor and thank you Kelly for the last minute beta. I don’t think I can find two greater ladies. Thank you to Binx for the beautiful cover art.


End file.
